Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Padfoot! Duck!"
Sirius complied without thinking and hit the ground just as a jet of green light flew over his head and impacted the wall.
Whoo, he thought, that was a bit too close for comfort.
He glanced around for his helper and caught Moony's eye, tapping his chin in the Marauder hand-sign for 'thanks'. Moony nodded and went back to fighting. It was getting into a lull now, in that slow period as people got tired, before throwing themselves back into battle fever.
Sure enough, that battle fever phase came again, and he fought his way to the small medical bay they had set up on their side where his wife was working through patients with the ease of long practice. Aletha gave him a small smile when she saw him, but spared no more attention from the leg she was working on.
Sirius slumped against a broken part of the wall for a moment, giving himself a small breather.
Why did we do this again? he thought vaguely. It's not even our fight.
Because, argued the more reasonable part of him—the part that sounded most frighteningly like his wife—could you really watch copies of your friends die and not do anything about it? Despite popular belief you do have brains inside that skull, Sirius Valentine Black, so use them!
Chuckling quietly he stood up and gave over to battle fever again, taking down Death Eaters as he went. He caught sight of Moony, fighting almost side by side with Dumbledore, using both fire and spells.
Movement to his right made him look as Danger ducked a spell that blew open the wall and revealed a straight drop down a cliff.
Oh, that's not good.
He made his way over as quickly as he could, his brain rushing frantically as he watched the woman he considered his sister duel against his cousin.
Good old Bella. Should have known I would see you again, passed through his head, immediately followed by Danger's not the best with wand work to begin with and Moony's too preoccupied to help.
Everything after that came in slow motion. First the spell that Bellatrix shot at Danger, then his Pack-sister ducking and finding her cloak caught on a ragged rock. He didn't even think as he pushed her roughly out of the way as the spell hit him and he tumbled over the broken bit of wall and towards the cliff drop below.
"SIRIUS!"
Harry woke up slowly, feeling, amazingly, safe—not to mention slightly squashed by a weight on his right side. He blinked several times, then slowly turned his head. Then he fought to keep his face the same general color, as it felt remarkably as if one could fry an egg on it.
Sometime during the night, it seemed, Ginny had kicked out of her bag and decided Harry would be a fine pillow. She had her arms wrapped around him and her face against his shoulder, sleeping peacefully.
From somewhere to his left there was a snicker.
"You think this is funny, don't you?" he asked whoever was laughing irritably.
"Very," Neville's voice answered. No, he corrected himself as the boy came into view, not Neville. It was Shade, the Otherworld Neville. And there was a difference. The Otherworld version was more confident, more sure of himself, maybe even happier.
"Oh, don't worry," Neenie's voice said next. "Wolf had to go through almost the same thing. Except it was his leg Lynx fell asleep on."
"Go ahead and embarrass our brother, why don't you," Fox said.
"I will, thanks."
"That was sarcasm."
"You should have said."
"I didn't think it needed to be said!"
Ginny was rousing now, breathing deeply against his shoulder. Her eyes opened and she gasped and sat up, her face going the color of her hair. Harry sat up as well, hitching away from her without looking like that was what he was doing.
Six pairs of amused eyes watched them.
"'Smatter?" Ron grumbled as he woke up.
"Nothing," Ginny said hurriedly.
Finally what had happened sank in to Harry.
We slept in the same room as WHO?
Harry became even more confused when Luna and Meghan sat up straighter at the same time.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked.
"We need to get outside," Luna said, just as Meghan replied, "There's something wrong with the castle."
"Something wrong with the castle?" Redwing asked, even as he helped fold up the makeshift nest the Pride had slept in with the ease of years of practice.
"Did I stutter?" Meghan snapped, calming instantly when Shade put a hand on her shoulder.
Redwing glared at her. "No need to get snippy, Pearl. I was just asking!"
"Will you both shut it?" Fox cut in, looking worriedly at Luna, who was pale. "I think something big's about to happen."
"How big? Hagrid riding Norbert big?" Shade asked.
"Bigger," Luna said breathlessly.
"Oh boy," Ginny remarked. "That can't be good."
"It isn't," Fox told her.
"But how do I know something is wrong?" Meghan asked, her anger segueing into confusion. "Alex?"
"Yes?" a voice asked from the bedroom with the green banner over it.
"How can I know something is wrong with the castle?" Meghan asked again, this time directed at the voice.
"You're connected to it, you sense it," the voice named Alex answered cryptically.
"Oh, thanks. I never would have figured that out if you hadn't answered so clearly," Meghan said sarcastically.
There was a smacking sound from the green bedroom, much like someone being hit over the head, and then a female voice none of the Otherworld kids seemed to know said, "Answer them right, Alexander Slytherin!"
"Ow! Anne! That hurt!"
"It was supposed to."
Several of the girls, both Otherworld and not, giggled behind their hands. The boys smirked.
"You're a blood Heir of one of the Founders," Alex answered, his voice grumpy. "The castle tells you when something is wrong, because it's your job to fix it."
"Thank you," Meghan said, this time more honestly. "And thank you Anne, whoever you are."
"You're entirely welcome," the woman replied. "Really, it was fun."
"Fun for whom?" Alex yelped.
The voices faded away, leaving more laughs behind.
"So we have to fix it?" Neville asked nervously after a moment.
"No, I think we have to fix it," Fox said, indicating the Otherworlders.
"You all have to fix it!" came the voice of Alex again. "We need each other, one and all, To live and to live well."
"Yes, yes, thank you Alex," Neenie replied flatly.
Alex's voice faded again, grumbling about ungrateful people and iambic tetrameter.
"So what do we do? None of the adults will listen to us, they're all at the battle!" Neville said, slightly hysterical. "Who's left? Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout? Professor Sinistra?"
Meghan put a glowing blue hand on the back of his neck and his muscles relaxed.
"Was I ever like that?" Shade asked, looking at the deeply-breathing, quickly-calming Neville.
"Yes," his five Pridemates answered impishly in not quite unison. He glared at them all.
By mutual consent they all split up to get dressed and met back down there in ten minutes.
"So what do we do now?" Ron asked when they were all together again.
"Run screaming like little girls into the night?" Fox suggested. He was promptly running away from a very irate cat, owl, and doe, all of whom, judging by the looks on their faces, were chasing him with malice intended.
"We search the grounds," Neenie said decisively when they were done and Fox had pleaded mercy ("Kidding, kidding!").
"Even after that asinine comment that almost got you killed," Starwing added with a look at Fox, he held up his hands in surrender again. "I'll be paired with Fox, if you like."
"Good idea," Neenie agreed. "Those of use with Animagus forms can take the outside of the castle. Draco with Luna, Neville with Meghan, Ron with me...you know, perhaps that's not the best idea..."
She was answered with a chorus of boos, which only made her grin.
"You six," she continued, "can take our copy of the Map and your copy. Split into two groups. And bring both Harry's and Wolf's Cloaks."
Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Neville nodded their consent, and they split into their groups, all of them looking determined.
Oh, great idea Hermione, cat-Neenie thought to herself as she picked her way through part of the Forbidden Forest. We'll take the Forest, you stay inside.
Wheeling high above her head, Redwing let out an ear-piercing shriek. He shrieked twice and screamed once, and then wheeled right and screamed three times. Then he swooped down a little and back up, slashing his talons in a mock battle.
Found something, three miles to your right. Be careful, danger, Neenie interpreted as Ron performed the signals they had formed for their scouting.
She clawed her way up a tree and leapt lightly branch to branch, picking her way towards where Redwing had pointed. Once she was close she heard gruff voices and snaps of cloaks as well as smelt the distinct combination of rage and glee which only meant one thing: Death Eaters.
Neenie crouched low into the underbrush and clawed her way forward until she could get a good look.
Oh, this can't be good.
The Death Eater's had, self evidently, breached the wards without any undo effects, which was nearly impossible.
Unless...
The wards would only falter enough to allow such penetration if someone who had helped construct them had died.
Oh no, oh no...
"Look at this!" a voice snarled from above her. She had been so preoccupied in her thoughts she hadn't even noticed his approach. "A pretty kitty, come to spy on the nasty Death Eaters? But you're not a kitty at all, are you?"
Her world abruptly went black.
Meghan shifted back into human form abruptly, feeling her pendants, which had gotten even colder.
"Neenie," she moaned, glimpsing the new shine on the carving of the cat. "And Dadfoot?" Her father's dog carving was glowing like a bright star.
Shade came over and shifted back. "Meghan, we have to keep moving!"
"Shade, Neenie's in trouble and so is Dadfoot!"
"Pearl," Shade said lowly, "hundred of lives for one. We have to keep searching."
Meghan choked back her tears and set her jaw, knowing he was right and that they could do nothing for her sister and her father right now. She shifted back to her doe form and kept searching.
Lynx and Wolf were walking together now, her potion having worn off more and more each hour. Now they rested, only partway down the mountain, as Wolf told her how he came to be there in the first place.
Lynx turned to look at him, her red hair looking auburn in the light as she looked at him incredulously. "So you wanted to get to me so much you actually Apparated yourself out of Hogwarts?"
Wolf nodded his head slowly. "I didn't do it on purpose. Why do you have that look on your face?"
"Because—" She gave him a mischievous grin, letting her hands hover over the small fire. "You have to remind me to kiss you until you can't see straight when this was over."
Wolf gave her a grin that fit his nickname, but it disappeared when a twig snapped nearby.
"I know they're nearby," a strange voice said. "I swear I can see them."
Wolf snuffed the fire instantly and turned to her. "Can you change?"
Lynx closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and nodding. "I think so."
"Good. Let's go."
A second later a black wolf and a red lynx darted silently out of their cave and farther down the mountain, away from their pursuers. They stopped when they hit a small knot of Death Eaters.
"We'll circle them to the south," one, who was obviously the leader, hissed. "They'll never escape the dark lord."
What do we do now? Lynx asked, a bit desperately.
If your enemy knows where you're going to be, Wolf answered, then don't be there.
Go back up the mountain? Are you sure I was the one who nearly died of hypothermia?
Positive.
For a moment, all he could see was Ginny sticking her tongue out at him, but then the mental image faded. With silent chuckles, he wheeled around and ran back up. It took hours, but they made it to the base of the fortress, in far less time than it had taken their human selves to get away from it.
Got to be a charm, Lynx grumbled. Once you're on the grounds it's easy to find and hard to run away from.
Possibly, Wolf agreed, but—
What? Lynx asked worriedly as he cut himself off.
The Pack-parents are up there! Wolf explained, his nose pointed toward the source of most of the flashing lights. Lynx lifted her own head, sniffing, and could recognize the scents of Wolf's four parents as well.
Are we going to help? she asked.
Was that a real question? he answered.
Together they prowled, hunting the people who tried to hurt their Pack and trying to find a way into the castle.
Fox stumbled in his fox form into a tree and yipped painfully as he felt his twin's surprise and pain.
Neenie! he thought desperately, and changed back. Starwing landed next him and changed herself. He could see the worry on her face.
"Neenie's hurt," he gasped to her. "Something's happened. None of this is right!" he shouted the last. She darted forward and clapped a hand over his mouth, but too late.
"What have we here?" the smooth, oily voice was Lucius Malfoy. The hackles rose on both of them. "Two lovers on a romp, I very much doubt."
Fox turned. "Hello, Lucius."
"Ah." Lucius Malfoy sneered. "I know of you. The boy from the alternate universe. The one who renounced his name and pretends he is not my son."
"I am not," Fox replied smoothly. Lucius was so caught up in Fox that he didn't notice Starwing fading back until it was too late to stop her. "But I do believe you're about to become very familiar with the ground."
"What are you talking about, boy?" Lucius asked.
"I believe he's referring to me," Starwing replied. Lucius spun and she hit a spot on his neck that dropped him instantly.
"Good work," Fox told her, grinning.
"Thanks," she answered, then continued like it was any other day. "Remind me I have something important to tell you when we get back."
"What is it?"
"If I tell you now, you'll faint."
"That bad, huh?"
"That good," she replied.
"Fine, fine." The situation fell on him again. "Let's go."
A fox and an owl took off while the rest of the world spun around them.
Danger hit the ground hard and screamed, bringing Remus instantly to her side.
"What happened?"
"SIRIUS!"
They both turned as Letha stared in horror...
...at the gaping hole in the wall behind them.
"No!" Remus lunged forward and leaned dangerously out of the hole, so far that Danger had to pull him back for fear of losing him too. "No, that can't have happened!"
I'll never forgive you for this, Voldemort, Danger thought, listening to her husband howl like a wounded wolf and feeling the ache in her heart.
Voldemort relished in the feeling of death and despair around him. His plans were finally falling into place, and with a perfection not even he could have foreseen.
"Tonight," he hissed to Nagini, "is the night the line of Potter falls for good."
A/n: I'm evil. I know. I also apologize for taking so long to update. Tell me I'm evil. Review! Thanks to MercuryBlue for beta-ing this chapter!